Our Team

Sharon Freundel

Sharon Freundel, managing director of the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge, attended Jewish Day Schools followed by studying at Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University and earning a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Maryland. She completed graduate courses at Teacher’s College of Columbia University and earned a Master of Arts in Jewish Education at the Baltimore Hebrew University.

Following several years of working in the nursing field, Ms. Freundel became engaged in the teaching of Torah. She taught and was the department chair for TaNaKH (Bible) and Torah SheBa’al Peh (Rabbinics) and was the Mashgicha Ruchanit (Spiritual Guidance Counselor) of the Upper School at the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy. Most recently, she was the Director of Jewish Life at the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School of the Nation’s Capital.

She teaches adult Jewish education classes throughout the Greater Washington, DC, area on topics such as TaNaKH, Jewish philosophy and contemporary halakhic issues in multiple venues and has lectured in Canada, Australia, Israel, and throughout the United States.

Rabbi Shmuel Feld

Rabbi Shmuel Feld proudly serves as the founding director of the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge. He was a principal and classroom educator in several Jewish Day Schools before joining JEIC in 2012.

Rabbi Feld’s vision of education was shaped by his personal Torah study and day school learning. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Chicago and a Master of Science in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education. Additionally, he completed graduate-level coursework at the Lynch School of Education of Boston College. Rabbi Feld holds one of three ordinations granted by Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz.

His favorite job is husband and father of three sons in Silver Spring.

Mayberg Foundation

The Mayberg Foundation is a grantmaking family foundation with a high impact, entrepreneurial approach to philanthropy. Trustees Louis and Manette Mayberg serve on a variety of boards and are deeply involved in many issues and initiatives impacting how future generations will sustain Jewish values, literacy, practice and belief. Giving priorities include Jewish outreach and Jewish education.

MANETTE MAYBERG

Manette’s passions are her family and philanthropic work. When asked if she works, she answers, “I invest in the Jewish people,” which has been the case since she traded working for salary to volunteering her time for fulfillment more than 20 years ago. Her focus is Jewish outreach and education, and one of Manette's passions is the radical improvement of Jewish Day Schools. Manette is a co-founder of the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project and has been an active board member in Jewish Day Schools and other organizations. Manette has authored opinion pieces on Israel and Jewish education, published in the Washington Jewish Week, EJewishPhilanthropy and Aish.com.

Born and raised in Miami Beach, Manette went on to receive a BS in Hotel Administration from Cornell University in 1984, moved to Washington, DC to work for the Travel and Tourism Government Affairs Council, followed by building a family retail business. She left the business in 1996 to devote herself to family and volunteerism. Manette and Louis married in 1989, and are the parents of two sons and two daughters and now are proud grandparents. They live in Kemp Mill, Maryland and Bal Harbor, Florida.

louis MAYBERG

Louis Mayberg is co-founder and principal of the Advisor to ProShares and ProFunds, the Exchange Traded Funds and Mutual Funds where he served as president for 15 years until March, 2012. Mr. Mayberg has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services and investment industries and has started or rehabilitated numerous companies. Among his recent activities is W2Fuel a multi-state bio-chemical refinery and Convergence Development, which focuses on inner city urban renewal through home ownership by placing low income working families into new affordable homes at a lower cost than renting. Previously, in 1986, he co-founded National Capital Companies LLC., a Bethesda-based investment bank specializing in mergers, acquisitions and equity underwritings in the financial services industry. He also managed National Capital's financial services hedge fund.

An active community volunteer and philanthropist, Mr. Mayberg has served on a variety of international, national and local boards and currently serves as Hillel board president at his alma mater, George Washington University. A trustee of the Mayberg Foundation along with his wife, Manette, he takes an entrepreneurial approach to philanthropy and counts among his most impactful initiatives Jewish Women's Renaissance Project, Securing America’s Future Energy, and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

TODD SUKOL

Todd J. Sukol has worked in and around the nonprofit and philanthropic sector most of his career. He serves as Executive Director of the Mayberg Foundation where he oversees the foundation’s grantmaking and incubation of several national projects, including the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge.

Previously, Todd was president and lead consultant for Do More Mission, a firm that increases nonprofit impact through philanthropic advisory services to high net worth individuals and foundations as well as providing outsourced management services to small and mid-sized charitable organizations. He was the first executive director and for many years the primary fundraiser for the Koby Mandell Foundation, where he continues to serve on the board of directors.

In addition to his professional roles, he acts as a confident and trusted advisor to countless professional and lay leaders working on behalf of charitable causes. Todd began his career in the nonprofit sector as Program Director of Maryland Hillel in College Park and is an active member of the Greater Washington Jewish and philanthropic communities.

Sukol received an MA in Philanthropic Studies from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University and a BA in Journalism from the Pennsylvania State University. He also studied media at the University of Manchester in England and completed a two-year Yeshiva program at Machon Shlomo: Alexander and Eva Heiden Torah Institute in Jerusalem, Israel.

The most cherished roles he fills are that of devoted husband to his wife (and college sweetheart) Amy and loving father to their five children.

Amanda Mizrahi

Amanda Mizrahi brings a varied skill set to the Mayberg Foundation, including an expertise in program oversight, nonprofit organizational development, database management, and statistical analysis. Her more than ten years of nonprofit experience allowed her the opportunity to hone her skills with many aspects of nonprofit management, an asset she seeks to share with the programs she manages on behalf of the Mayberg Foundation. Amanda has an enthusiasm for the nonprofit sector and earned a Master of Business Administration.

Rebecca Weisman

Rebecca Weisman has served the Jewish communal field for over two decades in nonprofits focused on Jewish education, leadership and engagement. As senior communications officer for the Mayberg Foundation, she brings expertise in marketing, communications, educational innovation and change management from professional roles in the Jewish community including schools, congregations, central agencies and community-based philanthropy programs. Rebecca earned a bachelor's degree in journalism-public relations and sociology from the University of Maryland, College Park and a Master of Science in Education from Johns Hopkins University.